I love writing Blu-ray Disc and DVD reviews, and trust me, it's often a labor of love. I like to think that I'm doing a public service by reviewing movies and their contents so that consumers can make an informed decision. But, some movies are review proof and the reader just wants specific details about the release. That will certainly be the case with the new Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures Blu-ray Disc set. You know the movies. You just want to know what's on this set and if it's worth buying. (I'm still going to review the movies.)

OK, let's start with the extra features, which are spread across the five Discs. The Raiders of the Lost Ark Blu-ray Disc contains a TEASER TRAILER, a THEATRICAL TRAILER, and a RE-ISSUE TRAILER. The Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Blu-ray Disc contains a TEASER TRAILER and a THEATRICAL TRAILER. The Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Blu-ray Disc contains a TEASER TRAILER and a THEATRICAL TRAILER. The Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Blu-ray Disc contains THEATRICAL TRAILER 2, THEATRICAL TRAILER 3, and THEATRICAL TRAILER 4. The "Bonus Features" Disc houses the bulk of the extras here. "On Set with Raiders of the Lost Ark" (58 minutes) is a dream come true for Indy fans, as it is comprised of on-set and behind-the-scenes footage from Raiders of the Lost Ark, some of which is never-before-seen. We are right there as many of the key scenes from the movie are filmed. The piece also includes deleted scenes and outtakes for certain scenes. There are also moments where the cast and crew are interviewed. This lets us see how meticulously planned the movie was, while we also see the creativity which took place on-set. Next we get an individual "making of" for each movie, or two actually in the case of Raiders of the Lost Ark. So, we have "The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)" (58 minutes), "The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark" (51 minutes), "The Making of The Temple of Doom" (41 minutes), "The Making of The Last Crusade" (35 minutes), and "The Making of The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (29 minutes). These are sort of difficult to describe, as there is nothing new here, but they also don't mirror any featurettes seen on previous releases. Basically, they take footage which appeared in extras and edit them together in a new fashion. (For example, the "making of" on the original release of The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was 81 minutes long.) New or not, each one takes us on-set to see the films being shot and contains copious interviews with Spielberg, Lucas, and the cast. We then get a series of short featurettes, some of which were previously released. "The Stunts of Indiana Jones" (11 minutes) takes us behind the scenes on the original trilogy to get a brief look at how some of the most famous stunts were done. Includes comments from Harrison Ford's stunt double. "The Sound of Indiana Jones" (13 minutes) contains comments from Sound Designer Ben Burtt and explores how key sound effects helped the films. We hear from composer John Williams in "The Music of Indiana Jones" (12 minutes). "The Light and Magic of Indiana Jones" (12 minutes) explore the visual effects from the original trilogy. We hear from Richard Edlund and Dennis Murren and see how the big effects scenes were planned. "Raiders: The Melting Face!" (8 minutes) contains comments from special effects make-up artist Chris Walas and visual effects supervisor Richard Edlund, who talk about the creation of the effect from the film's finale. We then see a crew attempt to re-create the effect. (Why?) "Indiana Jones and the Creepy Crawlies" (12 minutes) explores the use of snakes, bugs, and rats in the film series. This can be viewed with a "pop-up" feature which gives us on-screen factoids. "Travel with Indiana Jones: Locations" (10 minutes) shows us the various exotic locations which have been used in the series. This feature also has the "pop-up" feature. "Indy's Women: The American Film Institute Tribute" (9 minutes) features excerpts from a 2003 interview with Karen Allen, Kate Capshaw, and Alison Doody, who discuss their experiences with the original trilogy. "Indy's Friends and Enemies" (10 minutes) examines the other main characters, both good and evil, from the original trilogy. "Iconic Props" (10 minutes) looks at everything from swords to maps to books to mummies which were made for The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. "The Effects of Indy" (23 minutes) shows us the use of digital and visual effects in The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and it opens with an explanation of how things which were models in the first three films are now done in the computer. "Adventures in Post Production" (13 minutes) has comments from Michael Kahn about the editing, and then the piece looks at the sound design, sound effects, and music.

So, here's the bottom line: This new Blu-ray Disc set picks and chooses extra features from the previous two Indiana Jones DVD sets and the Blu-ray Disc release of The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. So, the only truly new thing here is "On Set with Raiders of the Lost Ark". The extras serve as a sampler of special features from the past. With the amount of space available on a Blu-ray Disc, one has to wonder why they simply didn't include everything ever done. Looking over my review for the 2008 set, I can see that several things were left off. So, this isn't the definitive release which some were hoping that it would be.

OK, how about the audio and video? Well, as it turns out, each film is letterboxed at 2.35:1 and each disc offers an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 35 Mbps. Continuing this uniformity, each disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.5 Mbps. (This is a change for The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Blu-ray Disc which had a Dolby TrueHD track.)

Raiders: The image is notably sharp and clear. However, the famous opening scene still contains some shots which are grainier than others, and some of it is dark. Beyond, this the transfer looks good. The image is very crisp and rarely looks soft The clarity lends to a nice amount of depth and the level of detail is good. This is probably the best this movie has looked in years. The audio is excellent -- it's almost too good. The stereo and surround sound channels are constantly active and very detailed. The subwoofer effects are good as well. The music booms and threatens to drown out the dialogue at times.

Temple of Doom: Bad news first -- the HD transfer makes some of the blue-screen effects look really dated and cheesy. Other than that, the movie looks good. There is some slight grain here, but it's not distracting. While Raiders was a very brown movie, Temple of Doom has more colors and they look good. The depth is good -- this may be the best part of the transfer. The image goes a little soft times. The audio is very good and nicely detailed. The surround sound effects are rarely at rest and the stereo effects call attention to things happening off-screen.

Last Crusade: This one looks good as well, but I found it to be dark. Was Spielberg going for a noir look here? The image is detailed and we can see the crags in the actor's faces. The colors look OK, but the dark look doesn't do them any favors. This doesn't look bad by any means, but it actually looks older than the first two movies. The depth is good, but not as good as the others. The audio here is an improvement over the video. The music sounds great and fills the speakers. The street scenes are full of noises, coming from the front and rear channels. They are detailed and we can pick out minute sounds. The subwoofer is good as well.

Crystal Skull: As one would expect, being a recent movie, the image here looks very good. The picture is sharp and clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source material. The colors look very good, most notably in the opening desert sequence. The image is never overly dark or bright. The depth is very good and the image is nicely detailed. The audio here is fantastic. The subwoofer effects shake the walls as the familiar Indy theme comes through the rear speakers. The surround sound and stereo effects show good detail and never drown out the dialogue.

This handsome 5-Disc set kicks off with the 1981 classic Raiders of the Lost Ark. This film introduces us to the swashbuckling hero "Indiana" Jones (Harrison Ford), a college professor in archaeology, who is much happier searching through ancient tombs than teaching class. The story takes place in 1936, where the U.S. government approaches Jones to learn why the Germans are digging in the desert outside of Cairo. Jones realizes that the Germans are searching for the Lost Ark of the Covenant - the golden chest which holds the remains of the Ten Commandment - which is said to hold great power. Jones is soon off to Nepal to retrieve an important artifact from an old friend, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), who then joins Indiana as he moves on to Cairo. Once there, Jones teams up with his old friend Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) to infiltrate the German dig and try to beat them to the Ark.

What can I say about Raiders of the Lost Ark which hasn't already been said? (Let me tell you, not much.) The creators of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, two films which embraced technology and the future, take a giant step backwards here, making a film which is a homage to the Saturday-matinee serials of the 1930s and '40s. Yet, somehow, the whole thing works. The lynchpin of the film is, of course, the character of Indiana Jones himself. The idea of a man who is both a scholar and an adventurer has just the right balance of reality and everyman-fantasy to make him incredibly popular and likable. Indy is smart, tough, and good with the ladies. Of course, Raiders of the Lost Ark is a great adventure film as well. Granted, the film comes off as a bit slow, when compared to today's films, but that's OK. The movie has great characters and the many action set-pieces are still classics, most of which we all know by heart. Raiders of the Lost Ark laid the groundwork for future films like Stephen Sommers' The Mummy and remains an icon of action/adventure films.

As Raiders of the Lost Ark made a bajillion dollars, a sequel was inevitable (that and the fact that a trilogy was loosely planned from the beginning). So, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg teamed up once again for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. From the outset, they wanted this to be a darker film and they certainly succeeded. Temple of Doom is a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark, as it takes place before the events of the first film. The film opens in a Shanghai nightclub, where Indiana is swindled during an artifact trade. A fight ensues, and he escapes the club, taking singer Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) with him. They meet Indy's young side-kick, Short Round (Ke Huy Quan) and flee Shanghai, only to have their plane crash-land in India. There, they find a village where the children have been enslaved by an evil cult. Indiana, Willie, and Short Round get caught up in this affair, and Indiana takes it upon himself to challenge the cult and save the children.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is certainly a dark film, and you may remember that its horrors lead to the creation of the PG-13 rating. This film is generally regarded as the worst of the trilogy, and is simply considered bad by many. Is it that bad? Well, yes and no. As with Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom contains some great action set-pieces. The opening fight scene and the mine-car chase are fantastic and show that Spielberg and Lucas haven't lost their touch in creating exciting action sequences. Heart-ripping scenes aside, the problem with this entry is the story. Indiana Jones is simply too much of a bad-ass here, and we never get that balance between archaeologist and adventurer. Indiana and his cohorts are simply tossed into a bad situation which they must survive. Yes, Indy often uses his wits along with his brawn, but the character loses much of his, well, character. The film is further hampered by the annoying performances of Capshaw and Quan, who only drag the film down. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is better than most films out there, but it's still misguided.

Although Temple of Doom made money, the critical reaction and the fervor over the violence gave Lucas and Spielberg pause when considering a third film in the trilogy. So, it was five years before we got Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In this entry (which opens with a flashback scene, showing how a young Indiana (played by River Phoenix) got his start in adventuring), Indiana Jones receives word that his father, Professor Henry Jones (Sean Connery), has been kidnapped by the Nazis. The elder Jones carries a diary which contains many archaeological secrets, but the Nazis are after the location of the Holy Grail. Indiana heads to Europe to rescue his father, and soon joins forces with the lovely Dr. Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody). Once Indiana finds his dad, this quarreling duo find themselves on the run across the continent to escape from the Germans and protect the secret of the Grail.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a shockingly mediocre film, especially when compared to Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's clear that Spielberg and Lucas made a concerted effort to return to the roots of Raiders, and thus, much of the movie feels forced. While there is clearly a cohesive plot, at times, the movie feels like a series of unrelated action sequences. And while these sequences are good, such as the boat chase and the tank chase, by this point, the audience needs to see something different, and this film doesn't really deliver in that department. (Also, bringing back Sallah and Dr. Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliot) from Raiders of the Lost Ark seems to say, "See, remember the first movie? Huh?") What Last Crusade does have is the dynamic between Harrison Ford and Sean Connery as the constantly bickering Jones'. These two work very well together and their scenes truly bring the film to life. And who can forget the line, "We named the dog, Indiana?"? Last Crusade may not have been the closing to the trilogy that Indiana Jones fans wanted, and the film does have its problems, but the performances are priceless.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opens in 1957. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and his pal, Mac (Ray Winstone) have been kidnapped by Russian scientist Dr. Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett). Spalko takes the pair to a warehouse in the Nevada desert and forces Jones to reveal the whereabouts of a specific crate -- one which is highly magnetized. Following this, Indy is able to escape, but not before facing nuclear annihilation! Jones returns to his teaching post, but is soon asked to step down, as it's feared that he's had contact with communists. As he's leaving town, Jones is intercepted by Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf), a teenaged "greaser" who has a message from one of Jones' old colleagues, Professor Harold Oxley (John Hurt). It seems that Oxley ventured to South America to find a lost city of gold. In the process, he found an unusual crystal skull and then disappeared. Wanting to help his old friend, Jones and Mutt head for the jungles of South America to find Oxley. Little do they know that Spalko and her team are following them, and that they all may have stumbled onto an age-old mystery much stranger than they ever expected.

I hate to be a "Negative Nellie", so let's talk about what Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull does right. First of all, any issues aside, it is neat to see Indiana Jones back in action. Despite being 66 years old, Harrison Ford still has a twinkle in his eye and his smart-aleck reactions to dangerous situations are still funny. (And we see that he's still afraid of snakes!) This is a top-notch affair and many of the special effects are seamless and very impressive. The movie goes out of its way to nod towards the other films in the series, and these little moments will bring a warm feeling to Indiana Jones fans. Director Steven Spielberg shows that he is still one of the best at making the viewer feel as if we are there experiencing all of the awe-inspiring events. (I would be hard-pressed to say that Spielberg has a "style", but his use of the shot where the camera presses into a crowd is always effective.)

And, that's about it for the positives. For years, we've been told that Spielberg, Lucas, and Ford were considering doing another Indiana Jones film, but that they were waiting on the right script. Well, I for one am still waiting. The story here is so bizarre and corny that it doesn't feel as if it's part of the same series. Take the opening for example. The intent was clearly to invoke memories of the other movies by showing Jones in a hairy situation. But, the scene continues to grow out of proportion and we're left with a moment of staggering stupidity and we, the audience, are asked to suspend our disbelief while this occurs. The movie also lacks the sense of wonder found in the other films, especially the original. In that film (and The Last Crusade), Indy went to various exotic locales to solve a problem. Here, he simply goes to the jungle and stays there. And let me get this straight, Shia LaBeouf is a tough guy? Really? Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull's biggest sin may be that it's very self-indulgent. The chase scene in the jungle (which makes no sense) goes on and on, and when it finally ends...we're treated to a fist-fight which goes on and on. I guess when you're Steven Spielberg and your best friend, George Lucas, is producing, no one is going to tell you to tighten things up a bit.

Some would most likely argue that Spielberg, Lucas, and Ford waited too long to make a fourth Indiana Jones movie, and that the world has moved on. I would disagree with that statement, as people are always ready to embrace a good film. However, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull seems content to skate by on nostalgia and some gee-whiz moments. This simply doesn't cut it, as the story is hokey and the pacing of the film is abysmal. Will Indiana Jones return? If so, I hope that it's in a film which comes much closer to capturing the feel of Raiders of the Lost Ark.